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Of the COLVS.
THere is among the Scythians and Sarmatians a four-footed wilde beast called Colus, and some Sulac * 1.1 in Latin; of the Polonians, So••hac, of the Moscovites, Seigak; of the Tartarians, Akkitk, and Snak; of the Turkes, Acomi; being in quantity and stature betwixt a Ram and a Hart, and duskie white * 1.2 coloured, but the young ones yellow: of a singular swiftness and celerity in course. Her manner * 1.3 is to drink by the holes in her Nostrils, whereby she snuffeth up aboundance of Water, and carryeth it in her head, so that she will live in dry pastures remote from all moisture a great season, quenching her thirst by that Cistern in her head.
They are most plentiful to be found in Tartaria, in Pontus, where are so many plains, that a * 1.4 man can see nothing but heaven and earth; likewise they are found in Moscovia, in Podocia, and a∣bout the River Nep••us, and Borysthenes: they can never be taken but by wearisomeness: wherefore if men follow them with Pipes and Timbrels, playing upon them, they so weary themselves with leaping and running to and fro, being compassed in by multitudes of men, that they fall down for weakness, and so are taken. They live in flocks together, sometimes five hundred; and after Faster in the Spring, two hundred in a troope: having a Snout like a Hogs, they endure much hunger, but no cold.
In March they dig up with their Horns a certain root, whereof they eat, and presently their lust * 1.5 for generation encreaseth unto rage; in so much that for satisfying thereof they continue in that act both male and female, untill they lose all strength of body, lying half dead on the earth by the space of 24 hours, not able to go or stand: during which time they are often taken alive, but when they come again to themselves, they rather die then endure to be tamed.
The flesh of them is very sweet and wholesome, they conceive and bring forth for the most part twins, or two at a time; their greatest enemy is a Wolf (for in the Winter and snow they hunt and kill them.) Their horn are about four palms in length, growing upright or bending very little and very sharp, wherewithal they can pierce the belly of a Horse or other beast that standeth over them: at the root they are about six inches compass, and so growing lesse and lesse to the top; one of them weigheth about nine ounces; the blade toward the point is transparent, being held against the light or sun, because it is white and thin, but the neather part is duskie and thicker, and therefore it is not penetrable by the eye of man. There are about 14 circles like rings compas∣sing about the horn, one above another, but the uppermost is not perfect. This horn is of great price, being a present for any Noble man, for in Turkey they are sold for six Cracovian shillings; yet I know no other use of them, but either to make hafts for knives, or else horns for Spectacles.
This beast liveth altogether in the plains except in snow, and then he runneth into the Woods; where he may be taken more easily, and killed with the stroke of a Staffe. When the Tartarians know in what plains they lie, their King cometh and with a multitude of men compasseth them and wea∣ryeth * 1.6 them by musick as aforesaid. All this was related to me by one that had killed of them above two hundred with his own hand (saith that right honorable and most learned Gentleman Johannes Bonarus, Baoron of Balszei a Palonian.